‘Yes. We loved each other and wanted to be together all the time and yet Arthur couldn’t do anything about it. He said the scandal of a divorce would ruin him. Anyway she’d have to divorce him and she wouldn’t do that.’ In vitriolic tones. ‘She believed all that stuff about marriage being for keeps.’

‘You must have been worried when Mr Howard was arrested for murder.’

‘I was an’ all. I nearly went off my head.’

‘Do you think he did it?’

‘Did what?’

‘Killed his wife.’

‘Killed her.’ With eyes still shut, the body of Ann Parish rocked with laughter, a bitter humourless outburst all the more shocking because of its unexpectedness. ‘Of course he didn’t kill her. I killed her. I was the one who poisoned her.’

13

13 The Labyrinths of Time

In their own ways the listeners reacted. Bourne recovered quickly.

‘Why did you poison her?’

‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? While she was alive Arthur was married to her. He could only be free to marry me if she died. We loved each other. What was the good of three people being miserable when two could be happy?’

‘How did you manage it, Mary?’

‘Oh, it wasn’t difficult. Arthur showed me his collection of poisons, one day when we were alone in the house. He even explained what they did. So I knew which one to use. I decided to slip it into her water bottle. She always took one tumbler full of cold water last thing at night. Later I went into the bedroom and took away the bottle. I cleaned it out, refilled it.’

Surely, Paul told himself, it was role-taking on Ann Parish’s part. Surely it was the way hypnotized subjects had of acting the part, plausibly and with a wealth of circumstantial detail. And yet it was difficult not to be persuaded that this was Mary Elizabeth Rolfe describing how she had murdered Eleanor Howard in eighteen-ninety-one.

‘How did you get the poison, Mary?’

‘I’ve told you.’ The slightly hard voice registered surprise. ‘From Arthur’s collection.’

‘I know that. But didn’t he keep it under lock and key?’

‘ ’Course he did. But every night he emptied his pockets and put his money and keys and things on the dressing-table in his bedroom. I managed to borrow the keys early one morning before they were up. I used to take morning tea up to them.’

‘Does he know you killed his wife?’

‘I told him not long before they arrested him. I said that if he was arrested I would immediately confess so that he could be set free.’

‘And why didn’t you?’

‘He wouldn’t hear of it.’ There was pride in her voice. ‘He said he’d stand trial and save me.’